So sweet!

While riding the Dogwood route with Rick, he showed me these friendly
horses.

They always come over to say hello when Rick is reading meters. I was
thrilled they let me pet them.

Permission Granted

Sometimes it's hard to give myself permission. Like this morning... I wanted to take a slower morning at the house and work on a few things. Being in the office, amongst the bustle of activity and customers and issues can, at times, be distracting. I've been putting off a couple of reports that REALLY needed to get done because of all the interruptions at the office. My mother reminds me that I can look at my job as a "ministry of interruptions." Good thought... but I really need to get some of these reports completed! So this morning I gave myself permission to work at home. Our new admin assistant at the office is working out WONDERFUL, and we're now to the point that she can handle the office by herself for a few hours. I waffled back and forth, several times this morning about driving in. But once I was able to just relax and allow myself the freedom... I was able to be productive. See??? I even had time to update this blog. Back to work now...

Staying Afloat

Rick and I took a long weekend vacation just down the road at a little cabin. We called it our "steakation" for obvious culinary reasons. And, thanks to Uncle Lee, we were supplied heartily for the occasion. What started out being just Friday night quickly expanded into Saturday and Sunday nights... It was just THAT GOOD. My goal was to "get bored." I wanted to NOT think about work or the many things that I've been fretting about. Sunday afternoon, I achieved the goal. We sat outside on the patio practically all day. It was so relaxing and wonderful. Here's a glimpse of our little haven. And yes, that's Roxie hanging out on the patio table with us.

• Morning coffee - on the front deck
• Catch up on the newspapers - on the front deck
• Read a few chapters in a new book - on the front deck
• Take a walk down by the lake
• Beat Rick in a game of checkers - on the front deck
• Eat leftover steak from the night before - on the front deck
• Lose to Rick in a game of Hold 'Em - on the front deck
• Read more - on the front deck
• Take another walk and settle down in a swing by the lake
• Read more - on the front deck
• Grill more steak and dine by candlelight - on the front deck
• Settle in to watch a movie
• Sleep. It just doesn't get any better than that!

If you look closely in the picture below, you can see a little squirrel head in the hole. I'm a country girl.. but this was so exciting to me. Guess I really did get bored! I haven't forgotten about my last day in Guatemala to post. It was the "fun day" of visiting Tikal and zip-lining through the jungle. Keep watching for it. Soon...

Neat and Orderly

Our days have been pretty busy the last few days, and I'm finding myself significantly overwhelmed. It seems cliche to say, but I am concerned with the Economy. I'm seeing unemployment, tightened budgets, and the housing/mortgage crisis all first hand. Not all within my own life, but within the lives of people I know. It's different when the change goes from watching it on the news to actually seeing it in the lives of those you love. I've had some frustrations and concerns related to our own personal Brown Family economy, and daily I need to remind myself of how very blessed and gifted we are. Wow... I get overwhelmed when I think "Why Me?" Why was I so lucky to have been born into the American luxury that I sometimes complain about? Sometimes, when I get overwhelmed and stressed, I find myself cleaning my desk off. Or reorganizing the pantry. Or fine-tuning the arrangement of the place mats on the kitchen table to be at perfect right angles. Ok... I'll stop now. But you get the picture. So when Rick installed the new switch at the office, in his typical organized fashion, I felt REALLY good. Each cord was precisely in its place, numbered and securely fastened together. No more "rats nest" of unlabeled cables taunting me in unfashionable disarray. Yes! I think I will sleep good tonight knowing that at least one area of my life is neat and orderly.

When I am stressed...

I think of my happy place.

Results from the day

Saturday is winding down. It's 6pm... or should I go ahead a spring forward? Sure, why not - it's 7pm now. Dinner is in the oven and Rick is napping through an infomercial. Here is a pictorial recap of our afternoon: 1. Weeds. I pulled alot of weeds. And you still can't tell the difference in the yard. 2. Rick mowed. And jammed to his music.

3. Collin finished his dagger. It's pretty cool. And all that with just one arm, too!

That's it. We're going to watch "Ghost" tonight over dinner. I haven't seen that movie in years, and Rick's never watched it.

Saturday morning

I stumbled upon this in the garage this morning.

It's a work in progress, from the master-mind of Collin (aka the Collinator). He hates that name, but I think it's fitting.

I'll post the finished picture later, so you can see what he's been creating. It's impressive.

My household awoke earlier than usual on a Saturday morning. That's well enough, as it's a beautiful and warm day outside.

Rick's about to tackle the yard while I work on controling the weed population. Collin, with his broken collarbone, gets to enjoy the sofa for a while...

The week has been busy - and I wanted to write all week, but just haven't had the time. And now that I do, I'm not sure what to write about.

SO: here's an off-the-cuff rendition of what's going through my head. Boredom alert: You may want to cease reading at this point!

1. I need to go grocery shopping. But don't really want to.

2. The doggie stinks. Bath-time? Nah... don't really want to.

3. I feel like exercising. Maybe I can combine it with weed-pulling.

4. Can't wait for vacation. I'm so proud of Rick and the President's Club award. Napa Valley, here we come!

5. Need a new book to read. I like to read several at once, depending on my mood. Right now, I would like to find a good mystery to read.

6. May get together with Craig & Carolyn today. Need to get plans firmed up.

Ok - I'm rambling, so out the door I go to pull some weeds.

A Day of Disasters

Yesterday started out early (for us, at least.) We traded in our Saturday Morning Routine yesterday for a day of Red Cross Shelter training. And what I expected to be rather dry and boring, turned out to be really interesting and challenging. Our church acts as a Red Cross Shelter for disasters, and Rick and I worked pretty closely with the Hurricane Ike and Rita disasters. We really enjoyed serving in this capacity. So when this training popped up, it was a no-brainer that we attend. I guess I've never really paid attention to some things, but what I learned (apart from the nuts and bolts of Sheltering) was interesting. For instance, the American Red Cross is not affiliated with the government. Now, I KNEW they were supported by donations, but I never really thought of it in detail. One of their founding key principals is "neutrality." This means that they do not align with any political, religious, racial, ethnic, etc party. You will never see the American Flag on a Red Cross vehicle. Hmmmm. I feel silly admitting that, but I always lumped "America" and the "American Red Cross" together. Ok, now that I've brazenly displayed my inadequate intelligence... let's move on to other things. Next stop... the Emergency Room. Our training was interrupted by a phone call about Collin. He was riding his bicycle and doing what most boys do. Say it with me: "DA DA DA DUNNNNNN. Enter.... the ramp. Yes, a ramp. Normal enough for a kid of 15, right? Right. The result: a broken collarbone. He was quite brave - and believe me, this kid has a high pain tolerance. Maybe because we are no stranger to the ER. (As evidenced by the staff recognizing Collin and and saying "What happened this time?") He even attempted to refuse the vicodin. But once that nifty "figure 8" brace was cinched into position pulling his shoulder blades back, I think he would have taken an IV of the stuff. Next week he'll see his orthopedist. Yep, he already has an orthopedist! That would be from the incident last year. The really sad part is that Collin had just started the Power Lifting season. He was finding his niche, and REALLY enjoying it. This takes him out of that for the season. I know he is quite bummed, and so are we. Tomorrow my new hire starts work. Rick and I have survived a month of handling the office alone, every day. Just a few bumps and bruises, semi-permanent scaring, etc. Yep, tomorrow will be a GOOD DAY.